In an interview in Sunday’s Observer the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, admits that he worries about making the right decisions, and he said that when the cuts are made they are made with care.

With the first Liberal Democrat Conference since the formation of the coalition rapidly approaching, the challenge for Danny Alexander and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg is to sell austerity not just as necessary, but as being progressive. He says:

“I worry about making sure we make the right decisions, that we make cuts with care,”

Danny Alexander told the newspaper the reality of the situation at the moment is that there is no choice but to cut and that the least progressive thing is to deny there is a problem, claiming that it was Labour that created the mess, and accusing the Labour party of “hypocrisy”.

“That budget deficit means we are spending £150billion more this year than we raise in taxation. It is genuinely unavoidable that we bring our public finances back in order… There is absolutely nothing progressive about leaving a rapidly growing burden of debt for the next generations to inherit.”

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is adamant that he can stand the pressure. He said:

“Those things don’t bother me really – it goes with the territory.”

“I spend all my time worrying about doing the right thing in government. We have seen previous governments spend all their time worrying about this newspaper or that columnist.” He claims that is what stopped New Labour being radical.

Danny Alexander says he has spoken to Jim Wallace, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland who formed a coalition with Labour:

“They got a lot of scrutiny at the start because people weren’t used to a coalition, but by the end people saw that the Lib Dems had made a real difference.”

He added that the party went on to improve its position in the next election.

“We signed up to this because we believed the country needed stable government, and I think over five years people will see we have made a real difference to government.”

Could the Liberal Democrats one day work with Labour? Danny Alexander said:

“Let’s get this coalition out of the way first. Ask me that in five years’ time,”.

When it comes to Labour, Danny Alexander wants to push the point:

“I just think from a party that presided over increasing child poverty, that failed to reintroduce the earnings link for pensions, that had the most centralised control over public services – I will not take lectures on fairness from them,” he says. “They are irresponsible, [they] deny the problem the country faces – that puts them at the least credible end of politics.”